.hack//G.U. Last Recode launches November 3 in the Americas -- New five-minute trailer released.

.hack//G.U. Last Recode will launch for PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam in the Americas on Friday, November 3, Bandai Namco announced.

The collection will launch in Japan on November 1 and in Europe this fall.

Over at the PlayStation Blog, Bandai Namco provided an overview:

Refresher

For those of you who are new to the series or need a quick refresher (it has been a while), the .hack//G.U. series takes place in 2017 (!?) where players follow Haseo’s journey as he hunts down Player Killers (PKs), players who kill other players, in a MMORPG called The World. Haseo logs into the game to pursue one PK in particular, Tri-Edge – the player who defeated his friend Shino in-game and put her nto a coma in the real world. From there on, Haseo trains to get stronger to find and defeat Tri-Edge and avenge Shino, all the while uncovering the mysteries of AIDA, a strange computer anomaly that infects players. The series takes place over three episodes; Vol.1//Rebirth, Vol.2//Reminisce, and Vol.3//Redemption.

The Terminal Disc

For those of you wondering if you’ll be able to jump right into the series without playing the previous games, the Terminal Disc footage (Included within the game) is here to help you along. There are a series of videos that provide details of what transpired in the first series and help provide context for your upcoming journey.

New Content in .hack//G.U. Vol. 4//Reconnection

The MMORPG “The World” has announced that their service will be coming to an end on December 31st, 2018. Soon after that announcement, Haseo, who hasn’t logged into the World since the events of Vol.3//Redemption, receives a mysterious email. In this e-mail, Haseo finds a hint to where Ovan; an old friend, has been after they last saw each other. Haseo, once again logs into The World in order to save his comrade!

Along the way, a new character Kusabira, who’s mysterious intentions and past is unraveled throughout the new story, greets him.

Haseo’s 5th Form

Also new to Last Recode is Haseo’s 5th form that brings new power and skills for players to experience.

(Editor’s Note: A preview of the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu earlier today revealed Haseo’s 5th form dedicated weapon to be “Gate of Ouroboros.” It can use eight types of arts, as well as invoke consecutive skill triggers.)

Cheat Mode

For those of you have played the series and would simply like to re-experience the story, we’d like to introduce “Cheat Mode,” a new mode that maxes out your stats to allow for speedier battles.

Gameplay Features and Improvements

Additional gameplay features and tweaks have also been added:

Increased Moving Speed – Characters will be able to move faster outside of battles for easier exploration

Power Up – Damage done to enemies have increased to improve the pace of battle

Reduction of Stun Time – Another improvement to the pace of battle, the amount of stun time has been reduced for quicker battle response and attacks

Increase in Exp. Points – Level up quicker with increased experience points after each battle

Retry Mode – In the original games, after players were defeated in battle, they would have to return to title screen to restart from the last checkpoint, players will now be allowed to try the same battle again without having to begin all over again

And much more…

(Editor’s Note: Read more about the game’s improvements here.)

Enhanced Visuals

We’ve made some huge visual enhancements! Moving from PS2 to PS4 has brought many opportunities for the developers to improve the look and feel of the game. The game has been up-scaled and is now in 16:9 1080p and at 60fps, with a lot of the cut scenes re-mastered – Making sure it stands the test of time.